Seminar: Calabi-Yau Manifolds and SU(3) Structure

String compactifications on Calabi-Yau manifolds and on manifolds with SU(3) structure are usually seen as complementary. In this talk I will explore the possibility of combining these two approaches by studying non-trivial SU(3) structures on Calabi-Yau manifolds. It turns out that large classes of Calabi-Yau manifolds do indeed support such SU(3) structures. Moreover, for certain choices these structures are potentially relevant for string theory. In particular, it turns out that complete intersection Calabi-Yau manifolds - and likely even more general classes - support a Strominger-Hull system. These results may lead to a new avenue for string compactification and I will discuss the prospects and current problems.